Pulling Him Home
by Trapped in Icy Flame
Summary: Matt realizes that Mohinder is a ten, and that maybe he is not. And is patently unhappy about it. MattMohinder


For Hannah

I still own nothing

Home

Matt Parkman hated science. With a passion likely spawned from twelfth-grade physics, he hated it. He'd been good enough at it throughout biology, had whizzed through chemistry, and then had met physics and had such a violent reaction to it he forgot everything he had once known about anything related to science. Had managed to get through college without taking a science course, and been happier for it.

That said, he had an unholy addiction to House, and watched all the episodes off of completely illegal websites, and ignored the fact that he was a cop. So, when he saw the scene in which House explained that tens married tens, he had to think.

Matt was a man, and as a man had a healthy ego, and view of himself. He knew he that he was attractive, and was occasionally guilty of flexing in front of the mirror, just so he could admire himself. But he was also a realist, and he knew that as attractive as he was (and, if he dared say so himself, he was damn sexy), he was also not nearly a ten. And Mohinder definitely was. And Mohinder could clearly have anyone he wanted, so why would he want Matt?

Matt thought about it silently. He sat and stared silently at the wall. And he thought. He worked the puzzle over and over in his mind, considering it from every angle he could think of and he still couldn't come up with a solution. He was still sitting there silently when the mind he kept a 'look' out for appeared on his radar.

Mohinder was thinking about complicated science issues that Matt didn't really understand, but which managed to soothe the turmoil in his mind nevertheless. His mental voice was gentle and fast, and occasionally switched into a language that Matt didn't recognize, sometimes French, sometimes Spanish, sometimes a dozen of other languages, Science wasn't the only thing Mohinder was good at, and his looks weren't the only way that he was a ten.

Mohinder opened the door, and cried out in his slightly accented voice. "Matt? Molly? Are you home? I bought food so I hope you haven't eaten." Matt looked up at his lover, at the skin the exact color of the faded shoulders on his favorite brown jacket. Of his hair, that was a true and deep black, with curls so thick and wild that occasionally Matt lost track of his hand. He saw his kind smile, with movie star teeth, and his kinder eyes, the color of the coffee he gulped desperately down in the morning. And he felt confused and hurt, so he scowled.

"Its seven o'clock, you can't have honestly expected us to wait for you, like we are some big happy family waiting for Daddy to come home? Should I have put your dinner in the oven to keep it warm?"

Mohinder looked up at him confused, the thoughts in his head cleared for a moment, everything that was related to his work vanished from his mind as he started to analyze Matt instead of the complicated problems. He saw Matt's narrowed eyes, noticed the tenseness in his shoulders and the pursed lips. Mohinder's brain was racing faster than Matt could comprehend, and he walked over to him. "Matt?" His voice was soft and questioning, as he tried to dissect Matt's mood.

"Stop it! Stop thinking and analyzing me. I am not a lab rat for you to dissect and see how it works. So stop it!"

Matt could feel the second that Mohinder stopped trying to figure out what the matter was, and started to get angry. "Maybe you should keep your mind out of mine. I don't normally mind, because I love you, and I like being close to you, but you can't blame me for what I was thinking, or how I was thinking, because that isn't really something you can control. Unless…" He thought a scalding stream of words and hoped Matt picked up on them.

"I get off of work after staring into a freaking microscope for hours, and then I feel bad because I've been away from you and Molly for a ridiculously large amount of time, and I know that you can't cook." Matt opened his mouth. "I'm not criticizing you., but you know its true. You burnt rice, even Molly can make rice. So I go and buy groceries and get ready to make dinner, because really it is the least I can do, but I come in and you start shouting at me about things that are completely ridiculous. And, you know what? We _are_ a family. You and me and Molly, but if I have to tell you that, maybe we aren't after all."

Matt looked up at the end of the tirade. Mohinder had a sheen in his eyes that looked suspiciously like tears, and his brain was silent except for the overreaching feeling of pain. Forgetting that he was confused and angry Matt reached gently for his face.

"Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. It was just… I was just…" Matt trailed off hopelessly. He'd had a super macho dad who believed firmly that emotions were for women and sissy boys and had never learned to be fully comfortable talking about his feelings.

"Mohinder looked up at him and moved a bit closer. "Just what Matt?" And, when he looked into his eyes Matt found that he had to answer.

"Its just that you're a ten." Mohinder looked confused.

"A ten?"

"Your smart, and your beautiful, and your nice, and you have a good job, and you are perfect and could have anyone. So why would you want me?"

Matt was convinced that his father had a point about revealing his emotions when Mohinder through back his head and started to laugh. He pushed himself away.

"Its not funny!"

Mohinder's accent was thicker now. "we're a family, and I love you. You are wonderful, and strong, and I've never felt as safe as I feel when I'm with you. And you laugh, and aren't half as serious as I am, and I need it. I haven't been to India in over a year, and I always thought that I would miss home, but I don't, because you are more home than that country ever was. And I need you. I don't understand this rating scale you appear to have, but if I'm a ten, then you are definitely an even hundred."

Matt smiled, as he read the truth of Mohinder's every word first in his face, and then in his mind. He laughed to, and pulled his lover in home.


End file.
